Part 8 (2/2)

He would thron his saw or hammer in a kind of despair

But these traits were not noticeable except in the working hours and not always then The boys kept up the fiction of his leadershi+p, conferring with hi And with open hearts they took him into their scout life and liked hiet to a solution of his peculiarities was that he was not well and that a long course of unerip They took hiood scouts that they were, and their enterprise to earn a little -place at hoood turn in which their scout loyalty shone like a light

And so the days of strenuous, cheerful toil, and the nights around the companionable blaze, passed, and Blythe who see appeared to be haunted with a kind of dread that this remote and pleasant rustic life would come to an end

”We won't be finished next week?” he would say with a kind of si to put off that evil time ”You don't think so, do you?” And Pee-ould answer, ”That's all right, you leave it toit, for it rained steadily for three days

CHAPTER XII

THREE'S A COMPANY

And now, since the sun had reappeared and they had decided to take things a little easier, Pee-wee announced his intentions of going on a pilgrie to Woodcliff to hunt up the mysterious Helen shi+rley Bates, and to ascertain from her the address of her soldier friend who the war For it was on Pee-wee's conscience that the soldier who had lost his wallet had written a letter to his mother somewhere or other and that this had never reached its destination

”Are you going to wear your Sunday uniform?” Roy asked For Pee-wee kept a special suit of scout khaki for cerees

On this notable pilgrialia, he wore also his canteen (empty), his scout axe--to hew his way into her presence perhaps--a coil of rope dangling from his belt, his scout scarf tied in the celebrated ”raven knot” and his hat inside out as a reood turn Uponthe letter to its proper address, and not until then, would Scout Harris, RP FBT BSA, put his hat on right side out

He also took soe which he had made as a tribute to his unknown Woodcliff friend He was prepared to chop her to pieces or to give her candy, whichever the occasion required

He was indeed a human quartermaster's department and in addition to this equipment he carried also somewhere in the depths of one of his pockets a scout note book wherein the good scout rule of ”jotting down things seen by the as scrupulously obeyed There were feayside trifles that escaped Scout Harris' observant eye A saive an idea of his thoroughness:

August 10th Froinger snap Passed a smell like a kitchen Found a rubber heel in the road A dead bug was upside down in a puddle

Met a fence Saw so that looked like a snake but it was a shoe-lace Had a soda in Catskill Had another--raspberry Saw a flat tire as flat as a pancake and it startedabout pancakes

And so on, and so on

It was Roy whom Pee-wee chose to accompany him on his important mission

They had reached a point about fifty yards froh de saw Warde Hollister drop fro toward them

”How far is Woodcliff?” he asked, out of breath, and as if caught by a sudden idea

”'Bout six or seven oing except that it's soht make my last test,” Warde panted ”I just happened to think of it” He looked rather appealingly at Roy as his patrol leader

”Coht of it”

”Have you got your note book?” Pee-wee vociferously de you see and write a satisfactory description of it”